Genes, Maternal Negativity, and Self-Control

• Author: Matt Delisi,John Paul Wright,Rebecca Schnupp,Michael Vaughn,Kevin M. Beaver
• DOI: 10.1177/1541204011429315
• Published date: 01 July 2012
• Date: 01 July 2012
• Subject Matter: Articles

Genes, Maternal Negativity,

and Self-Control: Evidence of

a Gene ×Environment

Interaction

John Paul Wright

1

, Rebecca Schnupp

2

, Kevin M. Beaver

3

,

Matt Delisi

4

, and Michael Vaughn

5

Abstract

Maternal negativity has been consistently linked to a wide range of behavior problems in youth. Many

of these problems are closely linked to low self-control. Even so, it is clear that not all youth exposed

to maternal negativity show high levels of low self-control. Using direct measures of dopamine

genes, we explore the extent to which dopamine genes are associated with variation in low self-

control when accompanied by high and low levels of maternal negativity. Our results provide con-

siderable evidence of a Gene Enviornment interaction and may help to better specify which youth

are likely to demonstrate low self-control when faced with stressful stimuli.

Keywords

violence, biology, genetic, biosocial, low self-control

Introduction

There is a growing recognition that children exposed to difficult and stressful family environments

are differentially affected by those environments (Belsky & Beaver, 2011). Some children, for

example, appear resilient to harsh parenting techniques, to parental abuse and neglect, and to a full

range of familial risk factors (Jaffee, Moffitt, Caspi, Taylor, & Arseneault, 2002). Others, however,

appear to be adversely affected by these influences. Those that are adversely affected generally show

a diverse array of problem behavior, including early onset drug use, delinquency, and failing out of

school. Many of these problem behaviors are closely linked to deficiencies in self-control.

1

School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA

2

Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock, PA, USA

3

School of Criminology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

4

Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice Program, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

5

School of Social Work, St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO, USA

Corresponding Author:

John Paul Wright, School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA

Email: john.wright@uc.edu

Youth Violence and JuvenileJustice

10(3) 245-260

ªThe Author(s) 2012

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DOI: 10.1177/1541204011429315

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Differences in self-control between youths may thus be a key factor in understanding why children

are differentially affected by their rearing environment.

Substantial evidence implicates low self-control in the etiology of a range of problem behaviors

(Cauffman, Steinberg, & Piquero, 2005; Gibson & Wright, 2001; Piquero & Tibbetts, 1996;

Schoepfer & Piquero, 2006). The evidence is consistent, reliable, and by social science standards,

impressive. However, the origins of self-control remain in empirical and theoretical dispute (Wright

& Beaver, 2005). Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) original formulation of self-control theory expli-

citly linked variation in specific parenting behaviors to the development of self-control in offspring.

These behaviors are by now well known to most criminologists. Parents must, according to Gottfred-

son and Hirschi (1990), supervise their children, recognize their children’s deviant behavior, and

respond in ways that limit misbehavior in the future.

A range of empirical studies have explored the connection between parenting behaviors and off-

spring self-control (Gibbs, Giever, & Martin, 1998; Perrone, Sullivan, Pratt, & Margaryan, 2004;

Pratt, Turner, & Piquero, 2004; Unnever, Cullen, & Pratt, 2003). In general, these studies provide

tentative evidence of a possible causal connection between parental socialization efforts and the

development of self-control in youth. Even so, these studies are limited by at least two issues. First,

theories that isolate parental socialization efforts as the causal mechanisms associated with variation

in child traits and behaviors tend to overlook differences between children in their susceptibility to

parental socialization efforts. These theories assume that children within the same household are

uniformly accommodating to parental efforts. Ind ividual youths, h owever, vary in th eir suscept-

ibility to positive and negative environmental stimuli. Genes appear to be one of several variables

that act to condition or modify individual responses to environmental stimuli (Belsky, 1997a;

Ellis, 2011). Differential responses, rooted in genetic differences, to similar environmental con-

tingencies are referred to as Gene Environment interactions (Rutter, 2006, 2007). Recent evi-

dence has found that children with certain genotypes respond differentially to child abuse

(Caspi et al., 2002), to economic deprivation (Kim-Cohen, Moffitt, Caspi, & Taylor, 2004), to cor-

poral punishment (Jaffee, Caspi, Moffitt, Polo-Tomas, et al., 2004), and to parental separation

(O’Connor, Caspi, DeFries, & Plomin, 2003).

Second, the entanglement of shared and nonshared genetic influences by individual members

within each family, confounds correlations between parenting and offspring traits and behaviors

(Boivin et al., 2005; Burt, McGue, Iacono, & Krueger, 2006; Jaffee et al., 2005). For example,

children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are significantly more likely to have

parents with ADHD (Barkley, 1997a, b). According to several studies, including neuroimaging stud-

ies, ADHD is primarily a brain-based disorder caused by genetic influences (National Institute of

Mental Health, 2003; Rowe et al., 1998; Smalley et al., 1998; Swanson et al., 1998) and, in certain

instances, environmental insult from teratogens during fetal development (Button, 2007; McGloin,

Pratt, & Piquero, 2006). Correlations linking the behavior of parents to the impulse control problems

found in their children would, from a pure socialization perspective, constitute evidence linking poor

parenting behavior to child conduct problems (Wright & Beaver, 2005). The recognition that parents

and their offspring share genes, however, tempers such a claim.

This relates to self-control in the sense that there are strong reasons to suspect that genetic influ-

ences are deeply implicated in the development of self-regulation. A lengthy list of behavioral

genetic studies converge to show that impulse control, the ability to delay gratification, and response

inhibitionare highly heritable (Barkley,1997a; Bergen, Gardner, & Kendler,2007; Dionne, Tremblay,

Boivin, Laplante, & Perusse, 2003;Dunn & Plomin, 1990; Plomin, Caspi,Corley, Fulker, & DeFries,

1998; Polderman et al., 2006; Plomin, Owen, & McGuffin, 1994; Plomin, Reiss, Hetherington, &

Howe, 1994; Rutter et al., 1997; Rietveld, Hudziak, Bartels, van Beijsterveldt, & Boomsma, 2003).

Barkley (1997a), for example, notes that the heritability of ADHD and other ‘‘executive functions’’

frequently exceeds 0.85. More recent studies have found, however, that specific executive functions,

246 Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 10(3)